Flue-expander.



J. F. MEEKER.

PLUE EXPANDER. I APPLICATION FILED OUT. 14, 1911.

1,024,802, Patented Apry30, 1912.

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#1271 n FMG 671 567;

JOHN F. MEEKER, OF STAMPS, ARKANSAS.

FLUE-EXPANDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

. Application fi1ed October 14, 1911. Serial No, 654,608.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Join: F. MEExEn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stamps, in the county of Lafayette and State of Arkansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flue-Expanders, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention comprehends certain new and useful improvements in tube or flue ex panders, and the invention has for its primary object a simple, durable and eflicient construction of device, whereby all tendency of the tool to stick in the flue will be avoided, the invention consisting in certain constructions and arrangements of the parts that I shall hereinafter more fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawing in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved flue expander partly broken away and in section. Fig. 2 is an inner face view of one of the sections of the device. Fig. 8 is an end view of the body portion of the tool. Fig. l is a detail perspective view of one of the rollers employed, and, Fig. 5 is a detail view of the tapering mandrel.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and designated in the accompanying drawings by like reference characters.

My improved flue exp anding'tool embodies a sectional body portion 1, the same, in the present instance, embodying three corre sponding tapered sectoral sections formed with rounding extremities 2 and 3, each section being formed with a concave inner face, with a convex outer face and with trans versely extending exterior grooves near each end, said grooves being annular when the sections are assembled and being designated, respectively, 4: and 5, and adapted to receive contractile spring bands designated 4 and 5, respectively. Each section is further formed with a longitudinal radially disposed and outwardly tapering opening extending therethrough, the openings being designated 8 and extending into an intermediate shoulder formed on each section, the side walls of said openings 8 at the edge of the respective shoulders being somewhat contracted, as indicated at 10. The openings 8 are designed to accommodate preferably cylindrical rollers 11 which are adapted to protrude outwardly from the openings 8 into engagement with the flue and which are held in place as against outward displacement by means of the contracted portions 10 formed on the side walls of said openings. The body portion 1 is formed at one end with a centrally disposed bore 7 communicating at one end with the openings 8, the body portion being formed at its opposite end with a central bore 9, constituting a continuation of the bore 7.

12 designates the mandrel which is formed with a tapering stem or shank 13 and with a polygonal or many sided end 14 to which a wrench or other tool may be applied so as to turn the mandrel.

From the foregoing description in connection with the accompanying drawings, the operation of my improved flue expanding tool will be apparent. In the practical use of the device, the mandrel is inserted through the bores 7 and 9 in between the rollers 11 and the tool is inserted in the flue to be expanded. Should one of the rollers 11 strike an obstruction in the flue, it will stop, but the next roller comes up behind it and forces the first one over the obstructionv and smooths the latter out without the necessity of removing the mandrel or of stopping the tool, all liability of binding being pre vented, owing to the fact that the body portion is sectional and that the mandrel not only serves to expand the rollers by direct contact therewith, but also serves to expand the sections of the body portion, when op erating in flues of sizes larger than the one in which the tool will fit in its relatively contracted condition.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is A flue expanding tool, including a body portion, comprising tapered sectoral sections, each having a concave inner face and a convex outer face, the sections being formed near their ends with transversely extending grooves, and intermediate of said grooves with a shouldered portion and with longitudinally extending outwardly facing openings intersecting the shouldered por tion, contractile springs encircling the grooves of the sections, rollers held in the In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my longltndnmlly dlsposed openlngs of the reslgnature 1n the presence of two wlt-nesses.

) ot'v) nee o viih i )h= i 1 ale 1 s t1 ns t 101 1 e1 es 111 men 1e JOHN R MEEKER 12111011 to eaon other, and a taperlng mandrel insertible through the sectional body por- Vit-nesses: t1on 1n dni'eet engagement wlth the rollers, T. M. PRIBBLE, as for the purpose set forth. ARCH A. HALLnsUR'roN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0. 

